Tessa stayed gone nearly an hour and when she returned he was dressed and stretched out on the bed seemingly fast asleep. Tessa sat down in the arm chair and closed her own eyes only to jump and nearly let out a scream when she felt his breath on her face.

"Have a good lunch?" he asked with a grin as he stepped away from her. She took a second to make sure her heart was not going to blow up and then nodded.

"Yes." she said. He looked around.

"You didn't bring me any?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No."

"Well why the hell not?" he asked as he walked over and sat on the bed. Tessa shrugged.

"I just figured you ate already." she replied. He nodded and looked out the window at the dusty street below. He wasn't wearing his hat and Tessa looked at his face lit up in the bright sunlight and realized that she didn't even know his name.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Richard." he replied.

"Ya got a last name Richard?" she asked. She saw him smile though he was still looking out the window.

"Helms." he replied. Then he looked over at her.

"What is your name?" She blinked a couple times and then started picking at the small tear in her pants.

"Tom Bradshaw like I told you." she replied.

"Horse shit. You are no more a Tom than I am a Sally." Tessa bit her lip to keep from laughing at the thought of this man being named Sally and then shook her head.

"That's my name." she said. "Sorry you don't believe me." Richard sighed and decided to give up on getting her real name for now. Why she was so determined to pass off as a boy he didn't know but it seemed like she'd made her mind up.

"So where's your parents, Tom?" he asked. Tessa shook her head.

"Dead." she replied. "Where are yours?"

"Dead." he said. "But I'm a bit older than you. What happened?"

"How old are you?" she asked.

"Thirty-two and getting older every damn day." he replied. "What about you?" He knew that it wasn't proper to ask a woman how old she was but since Tom wanted to be a man he figured the question was alright.

"Twenty-two." He nodded. That's about what he would have guessed.

"What happened to your parents?" he asked.

"That's kinda personal don't ya think?" she asked. Richard shook his head.

"We're sharing a room and gonna be riding together for a while. Wouldn't hurt to know the guy I'm riding with." he said.

"My mama died shortly after I was born. My pa raised me and he was killed about two months ago." she said. Richard nodded. He would bet his life he already knew who had killed her pa.

"Trigger Jones killed your pa?" he asked. Tessa wondered how he knew that. Suddenly she worried that maybe he knew Trigger and she realized that she had trusted him without knowing anything about him. What if he was just messing around with her and was going to take her to Trigger and hand her over to him?

Richard could see the fear on her face and he knew the direction her mind was taking.

"Calm down. It wasn't hard to figure out what happened. I've been around a while and I know damn well you ain't no regular bounty hunter. I also know that Trigger Jones is a cold blooded murderer. Your pa was killed and now you're gunning for Trigger. Don't take a genius to put two and two together and find out ya get four."

"I never was much good at math." she said suddenly feeling a little foolish for thinking this man was going to hurt her. If he was the type of man that ran with Trigger she would have died last night when he'd caught up with her after she'd stolen his things.

"So this isn't really about the bounty at all is it?" he asked. "This is vengeance."

"No this is justice. That man killed my pa in cold blood cuz he wanted to marry me and my pa refused…."

"Last time I checked a man can't marry a boy." Richard said. Tessa realized she'd just told on herself, not that it really mattered. She knew he'd already known she wasn't a boy.

"You know damn well I ain't a boy." she said using her regular voice instead of the deeper false one she'd been using. "My name is Tessa Bradshaw and Tom was my father."

"Tessa's a real pretty name." Richard said and then he looked at her, his eyes suddenly more serious.

"So Trigger wanted to marry you, your pa said no and so he killed your pa.. How did you escape?"

"I hid under the bed and he was in such a hurry to get away that he didn't find me." she said. "I've been chasing him for six weeks now and last night was the first time I got any kind of lead."

"When a man like Trigger Jones don't wanna be found then it's damn hard to find him." he said. Tessa nodded.

"I aim to find him." she said. Richard nodded.

"So what are you dressed up as a man for and calling yourself Tom?" he asked.

"My pa always taught me that it was dangerous for a woman out in this country alone. So I guessed I'd be better off going as a man… Course since I don't have a beard or nothing I had to pretend to be a boy instead." she said. "And I find I actually like the pants and shirts you men get to wear. It's much easier to ride a horse and get around in these than in a damn skirt."

"Aint' never heard a woman that cusses as much as you." Richard said shaking his head.

"My pa hated it too but I don't care. If a man can say those words so can I." Tessa said growing defensive. Richard chuckled and held up his hand.

"You got a temper don't' ya?" he asked. "Calm down girl. I never said there was something wrong with the way you talk. I just said I ain't never heard a woman talk that way is all."

"So are you still going to help me get Trigger?" she asked. Richard nodded.

"I said I would didn't I? And like I told you before, if there is one thing you can count on, it's my word." he said. "Sorry about your pa by the way. Must have been hard on you."

"Yea but at least I still have his gun." she said laying her hand on it. "I plan on killing Trigger with Pa's gun."

"Then you might want to load it before we get there." Richard said. Tessa looked at him questioningly then quickly pulled her gun and checked it. Sure enough it wasn't loaded.

"You took the bullets out of my gun before you gave it back to me?" she demanded.

"Course I did. I didn't want you blowing my head off." he replied. He walked over to his saddlebags and pulled out a box of ammunition for her revolver. He handed it to her and she snatched it from his hand angrily.

"You let me wander around town by myself with an unloaded gun! What if somebody had started trouble and I'd had to get in a gunfight!"

"You'd a got killed." Richard replied with a shrug. Tessa was about to yell some more when he sat back down on the bed laughing.

"Calm down girl. I could see out the window the whole time. You went to the store, stayed a few minutes then went down to the diner and you were in there damn near an hour before coming back here." Tessa didn't say anything else as she quickly loaded her gun and then stuck it back in her gun belt.

"So you didn't trust me enough to give me a loaded gun?" she asked. He shook his head.

"Nope. But I do now. Besides there ain't no way a young pup like you would ever get the best of me anyway." he teased. He saw anger flash in her brown eyes. Yep she definitely had a temper.

"I seem to remember that I got the best of you just the other night." she said matter-of-factly. "And you didn't know it, but my gun wasn't loaded then either." Richard opened his mouth to speak but then clamped it shut again. He looked at her for several long seconds and she wondered what he was thinking. Suddenly he burst out laughing. It was a loud laugh and Tessa got caught up in it and began laughing along.

"Well I'll be damned. As if my pride wasn't wounded enough when I thought you were a young boy stealing my damn horse and guns right out from under me… Now it's damn near trampled to learn I was bested by a woman with an empty gun!"

"Well I'm gonna head down and see what I can get into. You coming?" Richard asked as he stood up. Tessa shook her head.

"No I'll just hang out up here." she said. "I try not to go around much in the day."

"Your secret is safe with me Tom. I won't tell a soul. As far as anyone needs to know you're my little brother." He gave her a little wave and then walked out.

888

Richard didn't come back again and once darkness started to fall Tessa decided to go down to the saloon. She had a little bit of money left from this morning after buying her brush and some lunch and figured maybe she could make some more and buy her pa's watch back from that old man at the stable.

She looked around for Richard in the barroom but it was too crowded and smoky to tell one cowboy from another. She made her way to one of the poker tables in the back and sat down to play some texas hold 'em. She played a long time but finally made back enough to buy her pa's watch and have some left over.

She left the saloon still wondering where Richard could be. She knew he hadn't up and left her because his saddlebags had still been in the room when she'd left. Unless of course he'd been waiting for her to leave the room so he could come in and get his stuff and leave without her knowing so he could have the bounty for himself. If that was the case she would just chase after him. She needed half of that money to keep her pa's farm up and running.

She walked into the stable and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Horse still standing unsaddled in his stall. She knew that Richard would never go anywhere without Horse.

"Can I help you?" the old man said walking over to her. Tessa nodded.

"I want to buy that watch back from you." she said deepening her voice as she always did in public.

"Don't got it no more." he said. Tessa felt her heart fall to her feet.

"What the hell did you do with it?" she demanded.

"Ask your damn friend with all the scars. He came in here a couple of hours ago and bought the damn thing from me. Paid me twenty whole dollars."

Tessa walked out of the stable feeling confused. Why would Richard have bought that watch and why would he have paid so much more than what it was worth? And where the hell was he now? She decided to go back to the hotel and get some sleep since Richard would probably want to leave at dawn.

When she walked in the room she saw that he was already there. He was curled up on the floor with one of the pillows from the bed under his head and he was sound asleep. Tessa tiptoed as quietly as she could around him and to the bed. She pulled off her duster and her hat. It had been a long time since she'd let her hair down in front of anyone but Richard was asleep and since he already knew she was a woman she knew it wouldn't matter.

She pulled all the pins from her hair and laid them on the table by the bed. Then she grabbed her new brush and brushed out the long red waves. Her hair hung nearly to her hips when it was loose and she took her time to remove every tangle.

She thought about waking Richard up and asking where her watch was but decided it could wait until morning. She had never slept alone in a room with a man and didn't want him waking up and deciding that maybe he wanted her as more than just a bounty partner.

She spared him one last glance and sighed as she took an extra blanket off the small bed and carried it over to him. She covered him up and then climbed up into the bed, blew out the tiny candle on the bedside table and curled up to try to get some sleep.

Richard didn't open his eyes until he could hear her steady breathing signaling that she was asleep. He was surprised by the way his heart was responding to her simple act of covering him up.

Richard was not a man who lost his heart easy and he had had no intention of ever losing his heart again. The wounds on his heart were deeper and more scarred than the ones on his body, but for some reason this tiny little woman had him turned inside out.

He knew that what he needed to do was get up while she was sleeping, grab his saddlebags, jump on Horse and ride away as fast as he could but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He admired this woman's courage and her grit. He liked her fiery temper and the way she thought she could pass off as a boy to keep herself safe. But he knew she'd get killed if she went after Trigger Jones alone and for reasons he didn't quite understand his mind was telling him that letting her die just was not an option.

He rolled over onto his side and drifting back into the half asleep state that was his normal.